Writing on Tuesday about Alasdair Paterson’s wonderful ‘Fishermen‘ put me in mind of a wonderful favourite poem of mine by Martin Stannard. The Ingredient, below, is part of my Lifesaving Poems series, and here’s why.

I was thinking in my post about Alasdair that I love the sense of mystery at the heart of ‘Fishermen’; we never really know what is going on at the poem’s heart. I also love the sense that it does not seem to matter a great deal to the poet whether he has worked out what is going on either. What was it Keats said about living in ambiguities? ‘Fishermen’ is a good example of that.